TEHRAN (FNA)- Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei, in a Sunday meeting with senior ranks and top commanders of Iran’s police force, commended the security body for its efforts in maintaining peace in the country.

The police need to have “non-stop development” to reach the position and level which the Islamic Revolution aims, Ayatollah Khamenei said, today, in a meeting with commanders and officials of the Iranian Police Force.

He praised the efforts of Iran’s police to strengthen the security in the country.

People directly see and interact with different sections of the Police, and their judging on this force’s performance is being generalized to other Armed Forces and to the Islamic Revolution, he highlighted.

The Police staff should act in a way that people see the force as a mighty, just, and vigilant one, maintained the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces.

Touching upon the remarkable progress of Iran’s police in behaving with people, Ayatollah Khamenei urged commanders to continue these kinds of developments.

Iran’s national police is tasked with a wide range of responsibilities, including securing borders, fighting terrorism, and combatting drug traffickers who intend to enter hauls of narcotics from Iranian Eastern borders to transit the consignments to European countries through Iranian Western borders.

Iran is in the forefront of the fight against drug trafficking and thousands of Iranian police forces have been so far martyred to protect the world from the danger of drugs.

On December 5, Iran's Coast Guard forces confiscated a 1.2 ton haul of narcotics in the Southern Province of Bushehr in the Persian Gulf, arresting a suspect in the operation.

Earlier in November, the coast guards seized an opium haul of 960 kg in Genaveh Port, located near Kharg Island in the Persian Gulf.

The Iranian anti-narcotic police have always staged periodic, but short-term, operations against drug traffickers and dealers, but the latest reports - which among others indicate an improved and systematic dissemination of information - reveal that the world's most forefront and dedicated anti-narcotic force (as UN drug-campaign assessments put it) has embarked on a long-term countrywide plan to crack down on the drug trade since 8 years ago.

The Iranian police officials maintain that drug production in Afghanistan has undergone a 40-fold increase since the US-led invasion of the country in 2001.

Afghan and western officials blame Washington and NATO for the change, saying that allies have "overlooked" the drug problem since invading the country more than 16 years ago.

TEHRAN (FNA)- Iranian Health Minister Saeed Namaki said that his country is 97% self-sufficient in providing its medical needs, adding that around 1200 knowledge-based companies of his country are working on a 3-year project to indigenize the remaining 3% in the face of US’ unfair sanctions.

TEHRAN (FNA)- Iranian Minister of Interior Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli said on Sunday that US President Donald Trump’s dismissal of his National Security Advisor John Bolton marked the defeat of anti-Iran hardliners in pursuing their hawkish agenda against Tehran.

TEHRAN (FNA)- Iranian and Turkish banks are working on a plan to establish a financial channel between the two countries based on national currencies, in a bid to evade US sanctions against Tehran, Secretary of the Joint Iran-Turkey Economic Commission Bahman Hosseinpour said.

TEHRAN (FNA)- Iraq denied on Sunday that its territory had been used to carry out attacks on oil facilities in Saudi Arabia, referring to the Saturday incident that knocked out more than half the Kingdom’s output.

TEHRAN (FNA)- Chairman of the Iranian parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Commission Mojtaba Zonnour said that US President Donald Trump revised his decision to respond to Iran's downing of an American spy drone in June after he was handed an assessment of Tehran's power to react.

TEHRAN (FNA)- Iranian President Hassan Rouhani is due to meet his Turkish and Russian counterparts on bilateral ties on the sidelines of a trilateral meeting on Syria in Ankara on Monday, his Deputy Chief of Staff for Communications and Information Parviz Esmayeeli said.

TEHRAN (FNA)- Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif blasted his US counterpart Mike Pompeo for allegations against Tehran, saying that Washington which has failed in pressures against Iran is now resorting to lies and deceits.

TEHRAN (FNA)- Iran’s Ambassador to the UK Hamid Baeidinejad reminded that his country’s decision to deliver oil to a private company in Syria by Adrian Darya-1 supertanker was in no contrast with the agreement to not sell the cargo to a country under the sanctions of the European Union (EU).

TEHRAN (FNA)- Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, in a message to his Nicaraguan counterpart Daniel Ortega, voiced Tehran’s readiness for expansion of ties and activation of potentials in relations with Managua.